UK home sellers having to cut average of £14,000 from asking price
UK home sellers are having to shave an average of £14,000 off the original asking price as the market continues to cool, data shows.
The property website Zoopla also said that in the face of weaker demand, more than 40% of the homes it currently had listed for sale had an asking price that had been lowered to attract “price-sensitive” buyers.
However, separate research from Halifax on Tuesday highlighted the sizeable house price gains made by millions of homeowners during the past three years, and how owners of larger homes have been the big winners from the pandemic-fuelled “race for space”, while London flat owners have gained the least.
According to Nationwide’s most recent data, UK house prices have fallen for four months in a row, while the rival Halifax said they were stable in January but fell in each of the previous four months.
Zoopla said demand from homebuyers had “rebounded” in the first two months of this year after last September’s disastrous mini-budget caused chaos in the financial markets, but remained at half the level recorded a year ago as buyers remained cautious.
The supply of homes for sale is also improving: the website said the average estate agent office had 24 homes for sale compared with 15 a year ago, providing more choice for homebuyers, who now have more room to negotiate on price, and helping to reduce the upward pressure on property values.
As a result, sellers were having to accept an average 4.5% discount to the asking price in order to achieve a sale – the highest figure for five years, Zoopla said. In London and the south-east the figure is more like 5.5%.
The average discount to asking price was £14,100 – but with the website estimating that a typicalUK home had £42,000 added to its value
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